New research has shown that exposure to commonly used chemicals causes changes in rats that are passed down through multiple generations.
‘We are now in the third human generation since the start of the chemical revolution, since humans have been exposed to these kinds of toxins,
WASHINGTON, DC — American farmers are growing increasingly more frustrated with the lack of commercially available seeds that have not been pretreated with pesticides. Farmers across the Midwest have called on federal officials this week to provide greater access to seeds without pesticide treatments. The request comes as scientists and beekeepers highlight the nearly pervasive use of neonicotinoids as seed treatments on corn as a critical factor in recent bee die-offs, including colony collapse disorder (CCD). Beekeepers from Minnesota to Ohio to Canada report large losses after their hives forage near treated cornfields. Scientists from Purdue University and a multi-year series of studies from Italy point to toxic dust, or neonicotinoid-contaminated powder from recently planted corn fields as key pesticide exposure pathways for bees. The request comes on the heels of a report aired by NBC Nightly News this week entitled ‘Bee Deaths Linked to Pesticides
It turns out that when we eat may be as important as what we eat. Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have found that regular eating times and extending the daily fasting period may override the adverse health effects of a high-fat diet and prevent obesity, diabetes and liver disease in mice.
In a paper published May 17 in Cell Metabolism, scientists from Salk’s Regulatory Biology Laboratory reported that mice limited to eating during an 8-hour period are healthier than mice that eat freely throughout the day, regardless of the quality and content of their diet. The study sought to determine whether obesity and metabolic diseases result from a high-fat diet or from disruption of metabolic cycles.
‘It’s a dogma that a high-fat diet leads to obesity and that we should eat frequently when we are awake,’ says Satchidananda Panda, an associate professor in the Regulatory Biology Laboratory and senior author of the paper. ‘Our findings, however, suggest that regular eating times and fasting for a significant number of hours a day might be beneficial to our health.’
Panda’s team fed two sets of mice, which shared the same genes, gender and age, a diet comprising 60 percent of its calories […]
PARIS — Massive extraction of groundwater can resolve a puzzle over a rise in sea levels in past decades, scientists in Japan said on Sunday.
Global sea levels rose by an average of 1.8 millimetres (0.07 inches) per year from 1961-2003, according to data from tide gauges.
But the big question is how much of this can be pinned to global warming.
In its landmark 2007 report, the UN’s Nobel-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) ascribed 1.1mm (0.04 inches) per year to thermal expansion of the oceans – water expands when it is heated – and to meltwater from glaciers, icecaps and the Greenland and Antarctica icecaps.
That left 0.7mm (0.03 inches) per year unaccounted for, a mystery that left many scientists wondering if the data were correct or if there were some source that had eluded everyone.
In a study published in the journal Nature Geoscience, a team led by Yadu Pokhrel of the University of Tokyo say the answer lies in water that is extracted from underground aquifers, rivers and lakes for human development but is never replenished.
The water eventually makes it to the ocean through rivers and evaporation in the soil, they note.
Groundwater extraction is the main component of additions that […]
A pioneering study to gauge the toxicity of quantum dots in primates has found the tiny crystals to be safe over a one-year period, a hopeful outcome for doctors and scientists seeking new ways to battle diseases like cancer through nanomedicine.
The research, which will appear on May 20 in Nature Nanotechnology online, is likely the first to test the safety of quantum dots in primates.
In the study, scientists found that four rhesus monkeys injected with cadmium-selenide quantum dots remained in normal health over 90 days. Blood and biochemical markers stayed in typical ranges, and major organs developed no abnormalities. The animals didn’t lose weight.
Two monkeys observed for an additional year also showed no signs of illness.
Quantum dots are tiny luminescent crystals that glow brightly in different colors. Medical researchers are eyeing the crystals for use in image-guided surgery, light-activated therapies and sensitive diagnostic tests. Cadmium selenide quantum dots are among the most studied, with potential applications not only in medicine, but as components of solar cells, quantum computers, light-emitting diodes and more.
The new toxicity study — completed by the University at Buffalo, the Chinese PLA General Hospital, China’s ChangChun University of Science and Technology, and Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University — […]
